


Live Forever, Beautiful Girl

by NervousAsexual



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Bittersweet Ending, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Holodecks/Holosuites, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:53:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28193511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NervousAsexual/pseuds/NervousAsexual
Summary: Kira explores the latest update to the holodeck program Jadzia made for her birthday.
Relationships: Jadzia Dax/Kira Nerys
Comments: 5
Kudos: 19





	Live Forever, Beautiful Girl

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sophiegaladheon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sophiegaladheon/gifts).



They didn't say anything for a long time, but Kira felt more content than she had in a long time.  
This was hardly a place she would have expected to be so calming. Who came to the capital of Qo'nos looking for relaxation? The Klingons were not a relaxed people. Their planet was not a relaxing planet. And yet here she was, sitting side by side with Jadzia on the edge of the shale outcropping that ran along the edge of the path, dangling their legs over the seemingly bottomless canyon that ran through the city, Jadzia's warm strong hand in hers and head on her shoulder, wishing they could go on like this forever.

"I knew you would like it." Jadzia's voice was almost smug but not quite. "But you didn't believe me."

"It was nice," Kira admitted.

"You wanted to go swimming again. But I told you this would be fun."

Kira smiled and shook her head. "Well, I'm sorry, Dax. When you told me we should go to a seven-hour Klingon opera I expected the worst. I figured it would be a Cardassian epic but with more bat'leths and less religious suppression."

Jadzia gave her a wry little smile. "And was it?"

It was not, thank the prophets. One of the few pieces of entertainment available during her time on Terok Nor had been the Cardassian epics the gul had piped in, and Kira had heard more than enough dry, monologuing bureaucratic dramas to last a lifetime. "The bat'leths definitely went a long way."

Jadzia laughed, and the sound made Kira's heart ache. She loved that sound so, so much. "As bat'leths usually do." She reached over with her free hand and patted Kira's knee. "What do you think? Shall we grab some _gagh_ while we're here?"

Kira gagged.

"It's just like the opera, I promise. It sounds awful but it really isn't."

"Okay, okay, I admit you were right about the opera. It was fun. I enjoyed it. But I am one hundred percent certain that I will not enjoy eating anything that's alive when I put it in my mouth."

"Oh, Nerys. Where's your sense of adventure?" Jadzia was quiet for a moment. "I know. How about... this?"

And all around them the scene changed. The canyon wavered and shuddered and shrunk down to a flowing river that chilled her legs, and the hard stone beneath them turned to soft grass. Kira tipped back her head, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Everything smelled of Bajoran wildflowers, and something else, too.

"Ratamba stew." Jadzia set a warm wicker basket onto her lap. "Some pie. And..." With a flourish she tossed back the basket's lid and withdrew a heavy maroon bottle. "..Voodai synthale. My treat." She handed the bottle to Kira and stood up, dusting the grass and pollen from her skirt.

"Did I tell you how this program was almost exploited for personal gain?" Kira leaned back against the grass. The sun was so warm and the water so cool and she felt more relaxed than she had in a long time.

"Holodeck surcharge?"

"Even better." Kira held her hands up to her ears in vague mimicry of Quark's ears. "'All business transactions subject to 10% house gratuity.'"

Jadzia gave her a curious smirk. "You handled a business transaction in Quark's bar? It's like I hardly know you anymore."

"It wasn't a business transaction. I just paid Aleari to connect a Klingon Empire simulator to this program--which, I might add, was your idea in the first place."

"Sounds like a business transaction to me."

"He told me--Quark, that is--that the bar's terms of service meant that any arbitrary rule he wanted to enforce was workable. He had the whole thing printed out on the back of the coasters. It was so tiny you couldn't even tell it was print."

Jadzia snapped her fingers and a checkered blanket appeared in the grass between them. "What did you do?" she asked, taking the basket and settling down beside Kira.

"I told him I never agreed to any terms of service." She indicated Quark ears again. "'As you can see, any use of facilities here at Quark's as outlined in the terms of service, including but not limited to wet bar, dabo tables, holosuites, and bathrooms, infer a tacit agreement to all house rules described therein.' And then he said something about corruption and how bad it would look for the colonel to be flouting the rules." Kira laughed. "You should have seen the look on his face when I told him that since DS9 is a Federation station Quark's is subject to Federation rules against inferred consent and that not only could I take legal action I could... what was the expression?... sue the pants off him."

"Sounds like a fun way to pass the time."

"That's the difference between us. I'd prefer he keep his pants on." Kira shifted a little as Jadzia snuggled up against her side.

"Groatcake?" she asked, holding out a small slice. "I don't have any syrup but I figured you're sweet enough you don't need any."

The laugh bubbled up pleasantly inside her. "Dax, that was bad even for you."

"What can I say? Except that I have no syrup, obviously."

She smiled and tipped her head over to rest against Jadzia's. "You're killing me here."

"I do my best."

Of all the holoprograms they'd tried this was by far her favorite, Kira reflected, her thoughts growing slow as syrup. The sun was warm and the planet familiar, and with Jadzia snuggled against her it all felt like...

She yawned. Home. It all felt like home.

The banging jerked her awake. Where was she? Sunshine, wildflowers, Jadzia at her side--the holosuite. Kira relaxed back against the grass.

"Your time's almost up!" a distant, distinctly Quark-like voice called.

"Yeah, yeah, keep your pants on," she shouted back. Beside her Jadzia giggled and booped the end of her nose playfully.

"Late returns are subject to late fees, and even the Federation will let me charge those!"

"I said I'm coming!" Kira rolled her eyes. "One day," she said to Jadzia, "I will kill that little man."

"You talk in your sleep," Jadzia told her. "It's the cutest thing I've ever seen in my entire life, and you know I've seen every baby targ video ever filmed."

"Thanks, I guess?" She'd napped too long, Kira decided. That was why her head and chest hurt. She'd napped so hard she'd napped into the mirror universe and back. "I wish we could stay like this forever."

"No, you don't." The smallest bit of alarm tinged Jadzia's voice, and Kira turned to look her in the eye. "There's a whole world out there you can't explore in here. This is fun, but you have to go out and have adventures and sass Quark so that you have something to tell me when we're here."

Kira rubbed at her chest but the ache didn't go away. "I didn't mean it like that."

"No? I mean, good. You better not." Jadzia booped her again and placed a kiss on the end of her nose. "You and Aleari should do a program sometime. I'll bet she knows a lot of great ones. I'll bet she's _made_ a lot of great ones."

Kira shook her head. "I don't think so. This is our thing. Yours and mine."

Jadzia's hand slipped into hers. "That doesn't mean you can't enjoy it without me."

Her chest was killing her. Kira rolled sharply against Jadzia and pulled their linked hands up between them. She held her as tightly as she could.

"Nerys? Promise me something?" Jadzia slid a finger under her chin and tilted her head up until Kira's eyes met hers. "Even if you don't do a holoprogram with her you should still do something fun."

"I'm having fun right now. Or I was, until..."

"Something else fun. Please? Promise me?"

"You're just going to pester me until I do, aren't you."

Jadzia smiled. "That's the plan."

"Fine, then. I'll go... I don't know..." She tried to think of something really absurd. Arrest Quark, slide down bannisters on the Promenade, steal a runabout for a quick trip through the wormhole... "Ezri asked me to have lunch with her sometime. Maybe I'll do that."

"I think that's a great idea." Jadzia wrapped her up in her arms and hugged her tightly. "You'll have to tell me all about it."

Kira hugged her back.

"Come on. Let's get moving before Quark kicks down the door."

Kira laughed and was surprised to find her eyes were damp. She let Jadzia help her to her feet and held on as tightly as she could.

"Until next time?" Jadzia asked.

Trying to smile, Kira wiped at her eyes and looked up at her. "Until next time. I love you."

"And I love you." Jadzia tipped her head down so that their foreheads touched. "Don't forget to have fun."

"Yeah." Jadzia let go of her but Kira hung on a moment longer, not quite ready to let go yet. When she did she found she still couldn't let go of her hand. "Goodbye, Jadzia."

"Goodbye, Nerys."

She would be brave. She had to be.

"Computer," she said, "end program."

She stood alone in the empty holosuite for a long moment, but Quark kept knocking. Kira took her memory stick--"Happy Birthday Nerys v.1.1"--and turned back to face her life.

**Author's Note:**

> 


End file.
